LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Board of Supervisors is seeking applicants for three seats on the Lake County Planning Commission.

The seats available are for supervisorial districts 1, 4 and 5.

In districts 1 and 4, new supervisors-elect Moke Simon and Tina Scott, respectively, will have the opportunity to select their own appointees. Joseph Sullivan currently represents District 1, while Don Deuchar represents District 4.

In District 5, longtime commissioner Gil Schoux has announced his plans to retire.

Applications can be found online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Boards/Board_of_Supervisors.htm or obtained in the Board of Supervisors office.

To be eligible, an applicant must be a resident of the district where they are seeking appointment.

All applications are due to the Clerk of the Board no later than 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19.

Applicants may be submitted in person during normal business hours, via fax at 707-263-2207 or emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

To learn more about the planning commission, visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Community_Development/Planning_Division/Planning_Commission.htm .

Estate planning is not just about who inherits when you die, it is also about who manages your assets, finances and health care decisions when you become incapacitated.

Incapacity planning raises the issue of whether to confer legal authority while one still has capacity or to wait until one has lost capacity to manage one’s own affairs. Let us discuss.

Agents under a power of attorney can control their principal's legal, financial and property affairs other than those related to assets held in the principal's trust.

The scope of the fiduciary authority conferred on an agent can be very broad or narrowly tailored. Most estate planning attorneys typically draft very broad powers of attorney to cover a wide gamut of unexpected circumstances.

If a power of attorney is immediately effective upon signing it avoids future delays and difficulties associated with determining the principal's incapacity; there is no need to involve any third parties.

If this approach is taken, the actual document is stored in a safe place until such time as it is needed in order to prevent premature use. The agent just needs to know where and how to access the document.

Otherwise, a power of attorney can require that one or more physician certificates of incapacity and/or written determinations of incapacity by trusted persons (such as relatives) be attached to trigger (activate) the power.

Obtaining such certificates of incapacity can be time consuming and difficult for a variety of reasons. Nonetheless, some people prefer to have these “springing powers of attorney” that requires certificates of incapacity.

Usually if the primary agent is a trusted spouse the principal makes the power of attorney immediately effective.

However, when less trusted relationships are involved the principal may prefer not to transfer legal authority unless and until one or two independent physicians have determined that the principal is no longer able to manage his or her own financial, property and legal affairs.

With trust assets, the trustee holds the power to manage the assets; not an agent under a power of attorney.

Typically, the settlor (i.e., the person who created and funded the trust) is the trustee until incapacity or death.

Upon the settlor's incapacity, the successor trustee will need to obtain whatever certificates the trust document requires in order to establish incapacity and take authority.

If a settlor wants someone else to manage the trust assets sooner the settlor can either appoint that person as trustee from the start or later on resign and have the successor trustee assume office.

With health care decisions the principal always retains control so long as he or she can has capacity to make health care decisions, even if the advance health care directive provides that the power is effective upon signing.

For that reason, there is less concern over one’s losing health care decision making authority.

Incapacity is not always permanent and does not always lead to death. If an incapacitated person later regains capacity the same process used to determine incapacity must be repeated to establish that the person has regained the ability to manage their own legal, property and financial affairs. Once established the person resumes control.

Giving someone else control over your own affairs should not be taken lightly.

Planning for such contingency while one still has capacity, however, allows you to say whom you trust to step in and manage your affairs without involving court proceedings.

Doing so can avoid expensive court supervised conservatorship proceedings down the road.

Dennis A. Fordham, Attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235. His Web site is www.DennisFordhamLaw.com .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – In its last meeting of 2016, the Clearlake City Council welcomed newly elected and reelected members and discussed what's next for the road sales tax voters approved last month.

With the final canvass for the Nov. 8 election completed on Tuesday, the council was required to accept the final election results, City Clerk Melissa Swanson explained to the council.

Elected on Nov. 8 were Nick Bennett, who had been appointed to serve out the rest of Denise Loustalot's term earlier this year; Joyce Overton, who won a fourth term; and businessman Phil Harris, the council's new member.

Also on the ballot in Clearlake was Measure V, the one-cent specific road tax that with 68.8 percent exceeded the supermajority needed to pass.

Two other measures – W, to change the city clerk's job from elected to appointed, and X, which did the same for the city treasurer post – also were on the ballot. Measure W passed and Measure X did not, even though no one has run for the treasurer's post in nearly a decade.

After the council voted 4-0 to accept the results – with Mayor Russell Perdock, who is in Mississippi, present via phone – it was time to administer the oaths to Bennett, Harris and Overton.

Afterward, a brief break was held for a meet and greet before the newly sworn council members took their seats on the dais.

At the end of the meeting, the council voted to keep Perdock and Bruno Sabatier as mayor and vice mayor, respectively, for another year out of the desire for continuity in the midst of a lot of big projects coming up in the new year.

One of the main items on the agenda was an update from staff on the city's ballot measures, in particular, Measure V.

“So Measure V passed. Now what?” asked Finance Director Chris Becnel.

Becnel said the city must supply a list of documents to the State Board of Equalization, which will collect the tax for the city.

He said in January the staff will return with items that the council will need to approve, including an agreement to allow the Board of Equalization to begin the process of setting up its system of collecting the tax, which also includes an agreement that the city reimburse the state for the setup cost, which is not to exceed $175,000.

“I don't expect it will be that much,” said Becnel, explaining that the process of setting up a transaction use tax is fairly complicated.

The council also will need to approve an agreement authorizing the state to go out and collect the tax, Becnel said.

He said those documents are among the items that the city needs to have back to the Board of Equalization by Feb. 1.

The Board of Equalization will take about two months to set up its system for collecting the tax, with actual collection beginning on April 1, Becnel said.

Becnel said that the city would likely see its first tax proceeds around July 1, as the state distributes sales tax proceeds quarterly. That first quarter's sales tax revenue is estimated at around $400,000.

While Becnel said Measure V is expected to bring in about $1.6 million annually, it could be more. Based on the closing of the city's books this last year, Becnel said annual revenue could be closer to $1.7 million.

Because of the timing of the sales tax distribution, “We're not going to be out grading roads and paving roads next week because the money doesn't come in for a while,” he said.

In the meantime, Becnel said the council needs to set up its five-member citizens oversight committee, which will meet annually to review expenditures and appropriations and ensure all such revenues are spent according to the expenditure plan.

He said each council member will appoint one member to the committee. Appointees' terms will coincide with the council members who appoint them.

The decision on who to pick is purely up to the council members individually, as the whole council isn't required to approve the appointment. The only appointment that does require a council vote is the committee chair, which will be appointed by the mayor with the council's support, Becnel said.

He suggested the council decide Thursday night when to agendize their committee selections. “We have a little time to do that but you need to start thinking about who you want to appoint,” he said, adding that Swanson had put together an application if council members wanted to sue it.

Harris asked if the city would be able to start road improvements this summer and repay itself once tax revenue proceeds come in.

Becnel said yes, that the city could make a loan to itself, explaining that the Measure V proceeds will go into a separate fund.

Based on conversations he's had with city Public Works Director Doug Herren, Becnel said it's expected that the first work will be done on the city's dirt roads, which will be graded. A preliminary estimate on that work is about $500,000.

During the discussion on when to make the oversight committee appointments, Harris said he wanted to shoot for March, but the council agreed that time was of the essence and that the process should be completed sooner rather than later.

Bennett said one of the measure's selling points was the oversight committee, and he believed getting its selection under way quickly would reassure voters that the city is doing what it promised.

During public comment, former Council member Denise Loustalot, who now serves on a new municipal advisory committee serving the Clearlake Oaks area, said it was important for the committee to start meeting and mesh by the time the real work starts.

Sabatier asked about the timeline if council members wanted to use the application process. Swanson said it would be sufficient if they put it out with 21 to 30 days' lead time.

The council reached consensus to have their selections ready for the second meeting in January.

Regarding the other measures, Folsom explained that due to Measure W's passage the city clerk's job will become an appointed – not elected – position in two years, when Swanson's current term ends.

Because Measure X didn't pass, Folsom said he and Becnel will continue to cover the city treasurer's tasks.

Pointing out that no one has run for the treasurer job in nearly a decade, Overton said she didn't think the public understood the measure and that it should have been pushed more.

During his report, Folsom told the council, “Get ready for a busy 2017.”

He also thanked everyone involved with the passage of Measure V, which he said he believes is going to be the catalyst for changing Clearlake's image and moving it to the next level.

Also on Thursday, the council honored longtime police and city volunteers, and approved a development agreement with FE Monterey LLC for the property located at 15885 Dam Road. The city will receive $50,000 for road improvements as part of the agreement.

Melton Design Group also was on hand to give a presentation on the Austin Park Master Plan. The project is undergoing review under the California Environmental Quality Act and so no formal action by the council was requested by staff.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday gave staff the go-ahead to move forward on a traffic control project to control speeds in a residential area on 20th Street.

Acting Public Works Director Doug Grider took the lead on the presentation for the plans on 20th Street, with support from Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.

Last month, as the result of a state-required speed survey that determines speed limits, the council voted to raise the speed limit on 20th Street between Alden Avenue and Hartley Street from 25 to 30 miles per hour, as Lake County News reported.

The city has to post speed limits based on the 85th percentile of speeds recorded. The speeds in that area actually put the required speed at 35 miles per hour, but due to safety concerns traffic engineer Phil Dow, who conducted the study, was able to use his limited discretion under state law to recommend a speed of 30 miles per hour.

City officials assured the neighborhood's concerned residents that they would begin increased enforcement in the area in order to push speeds down.

Rasmussen's officers already have begun making stops in the area. Additionally, he's developed an enforcement plan and authored a press release notifying the community of increased patrols and the safety concerns in that area of 20th Street.

Grider said city staff believes that a combination of the traffic enforcement Rasmussen is working on and the plan to make striping improvements along that stretch of roadway would reduce speeds.

In their written report to the council, Grider and Rasmussen said the police and public works departments, along with the Community Development Department and the city's engineer, were working together to create and implement the plan.

They concluded that the best plan – the most effective and affordable – involved striping the street with white fog lines 9 feet out from each curb and adding a double yellow center line. City staff also proposes installing raised traffic dots, which would narrow the travel lanes to approximately 11 feet wide, which is meant to create a visual narrowing effect and cause drivers to slow down.

Grider said they were asking for funding not to exceed $10,000 to move forward with the striping program's design and implementation.

Councilwoman Stacey Mattina asked Grider if staff had talked to Dow, about the idea. Grider said yes. Rasmussen added that Dow believes the plan is a good idea.

Community Development Director Kevin Ingram said such lane narrowing is the least expensive option as well as an effective one, and has been shown to reduce speeds by 3 to 4 miles per hour even without other enforcement measures.

Mattina moved to approve the proposal, with the council voting 5-0.

In other news, the council heard a presentation on a proposed sprintboat race in the summer of 2017 and gave support to the organizer to move forward on the next steps; held a public hearing and awarded a $65,931 bid to Leete Generators for two trailer-mounted generators; authorized an amendment to correct a $45,000 error in the Public Works budget due to an accounting system input error; and appointed Dave Thompson to be the council's member on the public educational governmental channel board.

The introduction of new employees Chris Pion and Larry Meldrum was postponed due to a scheduling conflict, Grider said.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.